Are you dancing?

I was reading a post a friend of mine put on her facebook yesterday and it got me to thinking.  She was talking about singing out loud the last verse of a song that she was listening to while she ran on the treadmill at the gym. She closed with a statement that I really liked...

"It's hard to dance with the devil on your back."

How true that is.  How many of us allow the devil to ride around on our backs?  He climbs on mine from time to time and whispers in my ear telling me to eat things that I know I do not want or need.  Or maybe he tells me to say or do something that I know is not nice or could possibly hurt someone else's feelings.  So many times I have allowed the devil to whisper little lies in my ear while I carried his weight around on my back, and man is he heavy.  Why do I allow it?  This journey is showing me that I don't ever have to do that again.  I did not realize that was what I was doing, in those terms, until I read her statement, but it IS what I am doing.

My journey with my eating has been as much about learning to listen to God and seek God as it has been about the weight loss.  I have said it and said it, and I am going to say it again.  I would not have come this far without His strength.  Let me give you a little glimpse into just what I mean. 

This past weekend I let my focus slip for just a little while. I usually get up every morning and ask God for His strength to get me through the day.  Please give me the strength I need to stay on program and walk the path You want me to walk.  Then again at night I thank Him for that strength and ask for the strength I will need tomorrow.  I stop at times throughout the day to pray along the way as well.  I have mentioned that I have taken the attitude of an alcoholic.  God is my higher power and WW meetings are my AA meetings.  Hey, it works for me when nothing else ever has.  Well this weekend I did not pray.  Don't know why, just got busy and distracted and the devil hopped on my back.  I began eating and it really did not matter what I put in my mouth.  I realized how out of control I was when I was sitting on my couch Saturday night with a box of granola turning it up and pouring it into my mouth.  No bowl, no milk, no spoon, just pouring the granola straight into my mouth and eating it until it was all gone.  Could not stop.  This eating with wild abandon continued until I came back to work to face my Weight Watchers buddy and confessed all my sins to her and got back into control. 

How did he (the devil) get there?  I looked away from God for just a minute.  That little window of opportunity is all he needed.  That little loss of focus to distract me was enough.  But I am back.  I am praying and focused again and God is good.  He took me right back as if I never turned away from Him.  He flicked the devil off my shoulder and wrapped His arms around me and turned my head back toward my goal.  I am back to my praying and texting my WW buddy to stay focused once again.  I know it won't be my only or last slip.  But as God reveals what is truly going on it makes it a little easier to jump back in line. 

And don't think God doesn't have a good sense of humor at the same time.  I went to my weigh in on Wednesday at noon as I always do.  I walk up to the counter and tell Stephanie (the leader), I am going to gain this week.  I did it, I own it, I deserve it, no tears, no fits and that is just the way it is.  I step up and expect to hear anywere from 3 to 5 pounds.  She looks at me and just laughs and writes the numbers down.  I actually lost a pound through it all.  Thank you God.  You thought me a lesson and through it all you still helped me lose a pound.  Believe me, I am dancing and I am not going to stop!!

"I removed the burden from their shoulders" Psalms 81:6